Rapper T.I.: No Contest To Violating Ban On Public Cursing

ATLANTA (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Rapper T.I. is paying a $300 fine after pleading no contest to violating a local law in Georgia that prohibits public cursing.

The charge against the performer stems from a May incident at the gated community where he lives in the Atlanta suburb of Stockbridge.

His spokesman, tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., maintains his innocence but entered a plea “to put this matter to bed.”

(credit: Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images)

Henry County Deputy Police Chief Mike Ireland said at the time that T.I. lost his key and the guard wouldn’t let him into the neighborhood.

A police report says the entertainer eventually was allowed inside but walked back to the guard, demanding his supervisor’s name. Police were called. T.I. was arrested and released on bond.

The cursing ban is part of a Henry County, Georgia disorderly conduct ordinance that states anyone “who utters, in a public place or any place open to the public, any obscene words or epithets” is breaking the law.